Spell Cards (Japanese: 魔（ま）法（ほう）カード Mahō Kādo, or 魔法（マジック）カード Majikku Kādo "Magic Card" in early releases of the OCG Series 3 and in the anime; Japanese symbol text: 魔（ま）Ma or 魔（マジック）Majikku), called Magic Card in the TCG until the release of Magician's Force, are cards with green-colored borders that have various effects to alter the play of the game. Often, a Spell Card has a single effect to provide a bonus to the user or a weakness to the opponent. All Spells are Spell Speed1, with the exception of Quick-Play Spell Cards, which are Spell Speed 2. You may activate and Set as many Spell Cards as you would like per turn. After activation, Spell Cards (with the exception of Continuous, Field and Equip Spell Cards) are sent to the Graveyard.

Unlike Trap Cards, Spell Cards have the advantage of being able to be played the turn they are drawn without having to Set them first. A Set Spell Card may be activated during the same turn it was Set as well (with the exception of Quick-Play Spell Cards).

Some very powerful Spell Cards have been Forbidden from Advanced Format tournament play, such as "Pot of Avarice". In many cases, Konami has released new, less-powerful replacements for some of these cards. For instance, "Pot of Avarice" has been replaced by the weaker "Pot of Dichotomy", which returns fewer monsters, whilst adding type restrictions to prevent genericness, and easy activation.

Used properly, a single Spell Card can significantly alter the game in the user's favor, or even cause them to win the Duel.

Example

Layout

The layout of Spell Cards is noticeably different from Monster Cards, but quite similar to that of Trap Cards (except the border color).

Border

The most noticeable difference between Spell Cards and Monster Cards is the border color. While most Monster Cards are yellow or orange, Spell Cards are blue-green.

Card name

This part of the card contains only one significant change—the Attribute symbol is replaced by a Spell symbol due to the fact that Spell (and Trap) Cards do not have Attributes.

Card type

The card type is located where the Level could be found on Monster Cards—below the name. This piece of text indicates that the card is a Spell Card. An icon next to the "Spell Card" text indicates the card's type (refer to the symbols above).

Card artwork

"Monster Reborn's" original Japanese artwork (left) and edited international artwork (right)

The card artwork is also present here and shows the player a visual interpretation of the used card. Upon import to the TCG, artworks may be changed, for a number of reasons. In the case of "Monster Reborn", its original artwork was that of an "Ankh" symbol but was remade in order to avoid religious connotations. The Ankh is currently used only on Japanese OCG cards (Korean "Monster Reborn" cards feature the TCG artwork).